What We Do

“The old story is still true. We're just finding new ways to tell it.”

—Toby Larson

Rising Tide is a Christian media nonprofit built on a simple conviction: the gospel travels best as story.

Our flagship podcast, A Moment to Celebrate, offers brief daily reflections rooted in Scripture—not sermons, but moments of stillness and encouragement for ordinary days. It reaches listeners in over forty countries, including many where the gospel must travel quietly, carried by technology into rooms that missionaries cannot enter.

We believe the Church has always been in the storytelling business. We are here to help it tell stories well—faithfully, beautifully, and in ways that reach ears that have never heard such things before.

Our Leadership Team

Toby Larson

Toby spent years in China coaching national broadcasters and learning what it means to speak truth where words are weighed carefully. Before that, he worked in news and entertainment at NBC New York. He holds an M.Div. and a Th.M. in Biblical Theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and studied under Jesuit priests at Gonzaga University, where he first learned that faith and storytelling are not separate disciplines but one.

Now he leads Rising Tide, a media nonprofit built on a simple conviction: the best Christ-centered content doesn't preach at people—it invites them into a story. His daily audio series, A Moment to Celebrate, reaches listeners in over forty countries, including many where the gospel must travel quietly. Toby is also at work on his first literary novel.

He believes that if the story is good enough, and true enough, it will find the ears that need it—even ears that have never heard such things before.

Writer & Producer

Cynthia Larson

Co-Founder

Cynthia is a bold witness—the kind who has been known to ruin a dinner or two, and to open doors that seemed firmly shut. She has spent her life where faith meets the world: in radio studios, in university classrooms, and around the dinner table with five children. She has carried two others whom she never held—but will.

She holds an MA in Missions and Evangelism from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She has worked in Christian radio and film in Beijing and taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level at The Communication University of China—one of the few Westerners invited to do so. She believes the Church's first work is to reach the lost and raise the found, and she has given particular attention to teaching young people how to read Scripture for themselves.

Her greatest joy, she will tell you, is being married for thirty-five years to her first boyfriend—who turned out to be her last. Together, she and Toby have built a family, a ministry, and a life shaped by the conviction that the gospel is not merely true but good—good enough to be shared with anyone who will listen.

Art Field

Art spent twenty-six years as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy, retiring as Captain. Since then, he has done a little of everything—technology sales, advertising, entrepreneurship—but the through-line has always been the same: bringing people together and making sure they're fed.

At an old church on a South Carolina sea island, where oaks drip with moss and the congregation traces its roots to 1706, Art oversaw the construction of a 22,000-square-foot Ministry Center. He insisted on a professional kitchen at its heart, because he believes that ministry and meals belong together. He still caters when he can. He believes some of the best conversations happen over a well-set table.

As Chief Financial Officer of Rising Tide, Art brings the same discipline he learned in the Navy to the work of stewardship—making sure every dollar serves the mission, and that the books are as clean as a Captain's deck.

Chief Financial Officer

Beliefs

  • As God’s Word given to all people, the Bible is wholly inspired by Him and, as originally written, free from error. It is our holy guide, teaching what is profitable for all godliness (2 Timothy 3:16f). It is trustworthy in every respect, standing as a sure record of truth— theological, moral, salvific— and of history itself.

  • At the most basic level, being a Christian means recognizing that we are not our own. A Christian does not belong to oneself, but to our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

  • We extend grace to those who hold different convictions, yet we believe the Bible to be wholly true. Therefore, any promise of salvation apart from Jesus misses the central, absolute, exclusive, and indispensable nature of Christ and His cross (Galatians 2:21). Scripture teaches that the salvation offered in Jesus Christ cannot be obtained by any other name (Acts 4:12; cf. Isaiah 45:6).

  • We believe that God eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who share one substance, are equal in power and glory, and are infinitely perfect.

  • We affirm the acronym GOSPEL: God’s Grace is Obligatory, Sovereign, Provision-making, Efficacious, and Lasting. We believe that a person’s restored relationship with God (through justification and adoption) and renewed nature (through regeneration, sanctification, and glorification) do not precede but follow His gracious initiative. God must come to us before we can come to Him.

  • We are committed to “majoring on the majors.” Because of this conviction, we seek not to isolate ourselves from fellow Christians with whom we may have disagreements. Since we love Christ, we are bound to love His people as brothers and sisters (1 John 4:19).

    In practice, this commitment to “preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3) means we are not compelled to divide over matters that, though significant, remain secondary—such as baptism, worship style, spiritual gifts, the sovereignty of God and the will of man, and similar issues.

  • Christians are promised abundant life now, and all believers will be rewarded at the end of time both on the basis of what Christ has done and in light of what we have actually done. We will not receive reward for what we merely hoped to do, thought we did, claimed we did, pretended to do, or convinced ourselves or others we did or gave. Our reward will be based on what we truly did—including every hidden thing—our deeds and even our words. Jesus affirmed this (Matthew 12:36).

    Yet the greatest reward for all who are in Christ will be heaven itself.

  • We seek to avoid moralistic legalism—adding extra-biblical lists of do’s and don’ts. At the same time, we wholeheartedly pursue God’s desire for our true holiness and Christ-like wholeness of character in daily life (Galatians 2:4; 5:1–26; Colossians 2:16–23).

  • Each episode of A Moment to Celebrate, produced by Rising Tide, seeks to make what God has made known accessible to all—even to those just beginning to explore His Word. Following Jesus’ example, we avoid jargon and aim to speak in ways that even children can understand. He taught through stories, images, and everyday experiences, using words His listeners already knew.

    At the same time, we believe Christians are not asked to “park their brains at the door” (Matthew 22:37; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 1 Peter 3:15). For that reason, we make no apology for offering challenging messages and engaging in in-depth study of the Bible.

  • The church is not a building but a people—God’s called-out ones gathered to Jesus Christ. When we gather, the Word is preached with authenticity, the sacraments are administered with integrity, and scriptural discipline is practiced with grace. Brothers and sisters in Christ are loved, the saints are built up in faith and unity, social ministry is advanced, and a perishing world is engaged with the gospel.

    We believe the church is not only a home for believers but a place where those who are not yet Christians can genuinely encounter Jesus Christ. In this community, both preaching and teaching work together to make God’s Word known, reflecting the New Testament’s use of “preaching” for the whole ministry of the Word to those who have not yet heard or believed.